1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to testing of subscribers' telephone lines and telephone equipment connected thereto.
2. Description of Related Art
Remote testing of a subscriber's telephone line, and any telephone equipment connected thereto, via a telephony digital communication network is well known in the art. More specifically, the digital communication network, which in normal operation is utilized to convey voice and/or data communications signals between subscribers, can also be utilized for transmitting plain old telephone service (POTS) test signals from a digital measurement unit (DMU) to the subscriber's telephone line and can transmit the response of the subscriber's telephone line and any connected telephone equipment back to the DMU.
However, telephony digital communication networks in wide use today are not configured to convey signals having a frequency range outside of the standard voice/data communication signals. Hence, when it is desired to conduct wideband testing of the subscriber's telephone line and, hence, any telephone equipment connected thereto, it becomes necessary to provide a separate conductive test path in parallel with the digital communication network in order to facilitate such wideband testing. It is, however, desirable to avoid having to run such separate conductive path to facilitate wideband testing.
It is, therefore, desirable to overcome the above problem and others by providing an apparatus and method for performing both POTS testing and wideband testing of a subscriber's telephone line and any equipment connected thereto via a digital communication network. Still other desirable features of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description.